News

It is with great sorrow that I pass on the news of the death of one of our oldest and dearest members. Joe Rust has died at the age of 75, in a mountain biking accident in Idaho.  He was biking with his son and a friend.  He apparently lost control of his bike and went off the side of the mountain.

It is no great surprise that Joe was in Idaho enjoying active sports.  He was an avid fisherman and sportsman and I believe that he vacationed in Idaho frequently.  A member of our club, Joe was a gentleman on and off the courts.  You never had to worry that Joe would hit an opponent with a ball, complain about a partner's play, or get mad.  He was always a voice of encouragement and merely smiled ruefully at errors (his own and yours.)  Joe lived his life with grace.

Joe and Florence hosted an RSTC social every October "Rain or Shine" for more years than I can count.  Joe, a consummate host, always welcomed every guest personally and poured a glass of wine for him/her.  Joe was a wonderful person and a vibrant part of the RSTC community.  We will miss him greatly.

Joe's obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle

The Swedenzerland theme was a celebration of the French Open final between Swiss Roger Federer and Swede Robin Soderling. Fortunately, Paul's musings of Swedish meatballs in Fondue, Raclette with a side of herring, Gravlox on Zopf bread, and chocolate lingonberry souffle did not materialize. Well, actually the souffle sounds good! The real thing was even better though. Kladdkaka (Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake), Swedish Nut Cake, and Swiss Mocha Cake was just the tip of the spoon.

Happy Father's Day to all of our dads and granddads in the Club!  Hope you had a great time enjoying YOUR day with your family!

RSTC's Father's Day Open Play had about 8 players having a great time on the courts at 10am (which is when I arrived.)  I set up snacks and crafts for the children on the picnic table under the trees.  The children had a great time making cards, eating goldfish, and playing.

Zalles Racquet Sports has been a long-time supporter of RSTC.  They have been members and/or buying ads for years, provided a discount to RSTC members (currently discontinued because of the horrible economy), and ran a Tennis Day for our members.  Now, they are an official Redwood Shores Tennis Club sponsor.

This full-service racquet store sells tennis racquets, balls, shoes, clothes, and bags.  They will advise on choosing racquets and shoes and you can take racquets home to try out before buying.  Please help us thank Zalles Racquet Sports for their support by giving them your tennis business!  (And tell them you're from RSTC!)

Zalles also sponsors a Thanksgiving tournament in Foster City (open to everyone) and conducts junior clinics.

Visit the store at 969-C Edgewater Blvd. in Foster City.  www.zallesracquetsports.com

Written by Lauri Floresca:

Viva La France!  The French Open Social on Saturday, May 30 was magnifique!  

Somewhere between 30-35 RSTC’ers were greeted at the home of Renato & Lauri Floresca in San Mateo by the red, white and blue French flag covering the front door and dining tables.  A delayed bee sting reaction had sent Renato to the doctor with 2-year-old Zach Floresca, so Lauri was a little frazzled at the start but the set-up crew arrived promptly at 6:15 and pitched right in.  Dennis was sent out for glace (ice) and Cynthia, June, and Ruth helped make labels for arriving French cuisine and took drink orders as guests arrived.  The Kir Royale, a popular French aperitif made with Champagne and Creme de Cassis, was a big hit, as was the selection of Pouilly-Fume (sauvignon blanc), Chardonnay, and Bordeaux (a cabernet blend).  A variety of Belgian beers were available for the non-wine crowd (because that’s what they drink in France!).

The hors d’oeuvres were quickly gobbled up – a selection of fromage (cheese) with baguettes, two kinds of pate, a bite-size ratatouille, and some sort of puff-pastry twist that everyone was talking about.  The dinner buffet opened, and a line stretched through the kitchen as people filled their plates with coq a vin, trout almondine, boeuf bourguignon, two kinds of ratatouille, and several French salads.  By the end almost every dish was scraped clean.  As the beverages continued to flow, we moved on to dessert:  More wonderful fromage, Madeleine cookies, chocolate éclairs, chocolat truffles chez Muzio, cheesecake, and the pièce de résistance:  a mango-raspberry ice cream bombe.  

Oh yes, there was some tennis tournament showing in the background, but clearly the focus of the evening was la cuisine de France.  And by that measure, it was clearly magnifique!

Written by Ivan Quinones:

We had an exciting and fun filled men's and women's Scramble tournament. A great turnout of 24 members who played hard to make room for the delicious French cuisine dishes enjoyed that evening at the French Open Social at the Floresca's Cafe

Dennis' bionic Achilles tendon catapulted him to first place, followed closely by Jay who chewed his way to second place (dentist humor!)

On the women's side, Evelyn won first place but could not attend the social to claim her prize, which almost dissapeared. Fortunately (or unfortunately) someone was keeping an eye on the tournament  director who was planning to take it home. Cynthia won second place and joined her husband in celebration.

 All and all, everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather and surroundings, played great tennis and did not make use of any materials in the first aid kits.

Now... start getting ready for the Team Tennis Tournament on June 27!

RSTC member Joey Delgado is the owner of Main Strings, a racquet stringing service that includes FREE pickup and delivery.  You just call or email Joey, he will come to your house to pick up your racquet, restring it, clean it, and then he returns it to your house.  It is that easy!

I just broke the strings in my racquet for the first time ever in my life (in the middle of a USTA match of course!)  I've been too busy to take my racquet in for service and then I realized I didn't have to take it anywhere.  I emailed Joey and wrote a check.  That's all the effort that it took.  Joey even put a new grip on for me.  I'm so ready for the May tournament!

Main Strings is an official sponsor of the Redwood Shores Tennis Club.  Please check out all of our sponsors on our Sponsors page and show them your support with your business.

The April tournament was a marathon.  On both courts the women played a stunning SEVEN rounds with NO BYES.  That's 42 games of tennis without stopping.  In professional tennis, outside of the Grand Slams, the most the women play at a time is 36 games and 3 tiebreaks!!  4 of the women were actually scheduled for an eight round but by unanimous agreement, they called it a day.

On Shorebird, 4 women and 5 men were playing.  The games were close: Kathy Miles and Carole Wong tied for 1st place, earning their wins by just 1 game over Barb Urrutia.  Rick Urrutia won on the men's side with just 2 games more than his closest competitor.

On Quay, the competition was even fiercer.  Karen Brodersen and Calona Paiko were the only 2 women playing and they were well matched.  Despite the variety of partners, the women were tied after each 2 rounds.  In the 7th and what was thought to be the deciding set, they tied 4-4!  The tiebreak was just as close as the rounds but eventually Karen prevailed.

The men played magnificently, especially during the men’s doubles rounds.  It was a treat to watch the power and angles that they displayed.  At the end of the 6^th round, Michael Garb had 25 games to Steve Hogan’s 24.  They played as opponents in the 7^th round and Steve aced the round and the tournament.

The Taste of India social was held at Sundar and Smita Venkateswaran’s home.  Many thanks to them for hosting us!  Delicious Indian dishes abounded and the air was redolent with curry.  Sundar declared the tastes so authentic that he thought he was back in Delhi!  We all indulged to our hearts’ content, feeling that we had earned it.

Well, the Redwood Shores Tennis Club’s Membership Mania on March 15 got rained out and things didn’t look too promising for our rain date reschedule of March 21.  All week, the weather forecast promised showers.  Thursday and Friday were brilliantly sunny and yet the forecast continued to be rain.  Nevertheless we made all of our preparations and Saturday dawned bright and dry!  We had a delicious buffet of croissants with home-made strawberry jelly, muffins, yogurt, granola, fruit, coffee, and orange juice available.  Drop-ins were welcomed to enjoy some breakfast and play a set with us.

Simultaneously, we were running our March Team Tennis Tournament with 16 hardy souls on 4 teams: the Spring Breaks, Showers, Fevers, and Flowers.  Despite early genteel protestations that “this is the first tennis we’ve played all winter”, there was some steel on the courts – lessons had clearly been taken during the winter!  In the end, the Showers took home the prizes.  Captain Kathy Miles, Michael Garb, Monique Seibel, and Shane Dickinson earned themselves each a box of chocolate truffles.  The rest of us were satisfied with good food (breakfast) and good tennis and seeing our friends again.

Now Membership Mania may be over, but we are always looking for new members so if you are at all interested in playing tennis, look us up!  Even if you don’t have time to play often, you’ll find that membership in RSTC is well worth your while.  First of all, the annual dues and per tournament fees are quite low.  Secondly, if you don’t play often, you probably don’t have regular opportunities to play.  RSTC provides partners and opponents twice a month – at our tournaments and open plays on reserved courts.  You don’t have to call around looking for available players or drive around looking for an available court.

This is a reminder to renew your membership.  Effective immediately, only club members will continue to receive email from the club, including notices of upcoming events.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Click on "Member Application" on the menu bar or follow this link:Membership Application.pdf and print the application.  Note: For on-line registration, each playing spouse must register separately.  The paper form allows you to register on one form, and we will create separate accounts for you once we receive your application.

Step 1: Choose your membership level.  At the "tournament" level, there is no additional fee to play in the tournaments.  At the "general" level, there is a $10 fee per tournament.

Step 2: Fill in your contact information.

Step 3: If you have a non-playing partner who accompanies you to RSTC social events, you should enter his/her name in the appropriate field and click on the checkbox to register him/her for a social membership.  On the paper form, you should fill out the Member 2 information for him/her and select the $25 Social Membership.  The total cost due is the total of both memberships.

Step 4: Fill in the volunteer fields (these are on the back of the paper form).  RSTC is an all-volunteer club and we need everyone to volunteer to help run the events!

Step 5: You can pay on-line via credit card (a small transaction fee is included in the prices listed on-line) or mail in your check.  Once your payment is received, your account will be activated and you will be able to register for Tournaments and Socials at member prices.